YULU'S SMALL EVS: SLOW SPEED, QUICK DELIVERY

The company's 25kmph EVs have become the go-to brand for quick commerce and food-delivery riders

- Shadma Shaikh

In Bengaluru's bustling HSR Layout, 22-year-old Niaj Hussain waits outside a Blinkit dark store on a grey Yulu DeX, an electric bike designed for quick and short-distance deliveries.

New to quick commerce, Hussain previously worked inside a dark store before realizing he could double his earnings as a rider. A petrol scooter would cost him ₹16,000 per month in fuel, whereas renting a Yulu works out to around ₹9,000 a month, including maintenance.

Hussain sets himself a daily target of at least 36 deliveries, to earn up to ₹1,500. His only complaint is that the DeX's speed is capped at 25kmph. "That rider there did 52 deliveries in a day on his petrol bike," he says, gesturing toward a colleague. "I can't go that fast." But, he adds, Yulu's rental plans make it an attractive proposition, especially for someone looking for a start in the gig economy without purchasing a vehicle.

Yulu operates in India's fast-growing but infrastructure-constrained rental e-bike and last-mile mobility space and has emerged as an unlikely but pivotal player in the booming quick commerce economy. It makes electric two-wheelers specifically engineered for last-mile deliveries and rents them to riders. With 45,000 bikes and 65 touchpoints, it has become one of India's largest shared electric mobility operators today.

Founded in 2017 as a shared electric mobility startup, Yulu's original mission was to decongest Indian cities. But a post-pandemic shift in user behaviour has transformed its business. Currently, gig workers account for over 90% of its revenue. These riders, an ubiquitous sight in India's metro cities, clustering around apartment gates and dark stores in their yellow, orange, red and purple uniforms (representing Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato and Zepto, respectively), are a testament to the company's role in the delivery ecosystem.